Page setup, margins and orientation

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. You print a table, and the last column is cut off. What went wrong? The page was not set up. Today we will learn page setup: paper size, margins and orientation, in Word and Writer.

First, a new term. Page setup means the settings that decide how each page will look when printed. Paper size is the size of the sheet of paper. Margins are the blank borders between the edge of the paper and the text. Orientation is the direction of the page, standing tall or lying wide. Set these at the start, before you type a long document.

Here is where you find page setup. In Word, margins are on the Layout tab, and in Writer they are under Format, then Page Style. Orientation is also on the Layout tab in Word, and in the same Page Style box in Writer. Paper size is under Layout, then Size in Word, and again in Page Style in Writer.

Let us look at common paper sizes. A4 is twenty one by twenty nine point seven centimetres, and it is the standard for most office and school work in India. Legal size is eight and a half by fourteen inches, and it is longer, so it suits long agreements. Letter size is eight and a half by eleven inches, and it is common in American offices. Some computers set Letter by default, so always check that the size is A4 before printing.

A page has four margins. The top margin is the blank space above the text. The bottom margin is the blank space below the text. The left margin is on the left side. The right margin is on the right side. In Word, the Normal setting gives all four margins two point five four centimetres, which is one inch. Writer's default margins are a little smaller, so check them too.

Word gives ready-made margin choices. Normal gives two point five four centimetres on all four sides. Narrow gives one point two seven centimetres, so more text fits on a page. Wide leaves more space on the left and right. Custom Margins lets you type your own values, for example when an office asks for a three centimetre left margin.

One more margin term is the gutter. A gutter is extra space added for binding or stapling the pages. It is added on the left side, or on the top. It is used for project files, registers and record books. It keeps the text from disappearing into the binding.

Orientation is the direction of the page. Portrait is tall, like a photo of a person, and it is used for letters, notices and most documents. Landscape is wide, like a photo of a scenery, and it is used for wide tables, time tables and charts.

Pause and predict. A mark sheet table has twelve columns. On A4 in portrait, the last columns are cut off. Which single change helps most? Switch the orientation to landscape, because the page becomes wider. Narrow margins can also give a little extra room.

Here are the steps to change orientation in Word. First, click the Layout tab. Then click the Orientation button. Choose Portrait or Landscape. The whole document changes at once, unless you have divided it into sections with section breaks.

Always check the page setup before you print. In Word, press Ctrl+P to see the print preview. In Writer, press Ctrl+Shift+O to see the page preview. Make sure the paper size matches the paper in the printer. Look at each page and check that no text or column is cut off. If you want to share the exact layout, save or export the document as a PDF.

Let us revise what we learned today. Page setup means paper size, margins and orientation. A4 is twenty one by twenty nine point seven centimetres, and it is the standard in India. A page has four margins, and Word's Normal setting is two point five four centimetres each. Portrait is tall and landscape is wide. And always preview with Ctrl+P before printing.